As the fall film season kicks off in earnest, the hardcore fans with maybe a bit of free time or vacation days to burn might find themselves inclined to make a day trip or two to New Orleans for the New Orleans Film Festival from Thursday through Oct. 18, checking out any number of screenings of cool documentaries, regional indies and big regional premieres of hotly anticipated titles.

And it’s a long list of titles. Opening night of the festival is the regional premiere of “The Paperboy,” a Southern noir from Lee Daniels, the director of the Oscar-nominated “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” starring Zac Efron, Nicole Kidman, John Cusack and Matthew McConaughey.

From there, the list of big titles only grows. Fresh off its Audience Choice award at the Toronto International Film Festival is David O. Russell’s “Silver Linings Playbook,” a romantic comedy starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. It’ll screen on Oct. 15 and seems to be a major player in awards season this year.

Popular at the Los Angeles Film Festival was the apocalyptic comedy “It’s a Disaster,” starring Julia Stiles and David Cross. The film screens on Oct. 13 and 16, long before its 2013 video on demand and theatrical release.

David Chase, the showrunner and creator of “The Sopranos,” makes his big-screen debut with “Not Fade Away,” a story of a young man who forms a rock band with his friends in 1960s New Jersey. That screens Oct. 13.

You can also see films you might have missed at August’s Sidewalk Moving Pictures Festival in Birmingham, such as “Supporting Characters,” “Compliance,” “Gayby” and Tuscaloosa filmmaker Andrew Grace’s film “Eating Alabama.”

That’s ignoring a long list of documentaries and special screenings of repertory masterpieces, like Jean Renoir’s “Grand Illusion” (Oct. 14 and 16) and Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” at the NOLA Drive-In (Oct. 14)

You can find the full list of titles at neworleansfilmsociety.org/festival, along with all information about venues and prices for individual tickets and badges.

Tusk will feature coverage from the festival at www.tusk205.com and in the print edition of Tusk during the run of the festival, so check out reactions to the films here or in the pages of The Tuscaloosa News.

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As the fall film season kicks off in earnest, the hardcore fans with maybe a bit of free time or vacation days to burn might find themselves inclined to make a day trip or two to New Orleans for the New Orleans Film Festival from Thursday through Oct. 18, checking out any number of screenings of cool documentaries, regional indies and big regional premieres of hotly anticipated titles.

And it’s a long list of titles. Opening night of the festival is the regional premiere of “The Paperboy,” a Southern noir from Lee Daniels, the director of the Oscar-nominated “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” starring Zac Efron, Nicole Kidman, John Cusack and Matthew McConaughey.

From there, the list of big titles only grows. Fresh off its Audience Choice award at the Toronto International Film Festival is David O. Russell’s “Silver Linings Playbook,” a romantic comedy starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. It’ll screen on Oct. 15 and seems to be a major player in awards season this year.

Popular at the Los Angeles Film Festival was the apocalyptic comedy “It’s a Disaster,” starring Julia Stiles and David Cross. The film screens on Oct. 13 and 16, long before its 2013 video on demand and theatrical release.

David Chase, the showrunner and creator of “The Sopranos,” makes his big-screen debut with “Not Fade Away,” a story of a young man who forms a rock band with his friends in 1960s New Jersey. That screens Oct. 13.

You can also see films you might have missed at August’s Sidewalk Moving Pictures Festival in Birmingham, such as “Supporting Characters,” “Compliance,” “Gayby” and Tuscaloosa filmmaker Andrew Grace’s film “Eating Alabama.”

That’s ignoring a long list of documentaries and special screenings of repertory masterpieces, like Jean Renoir’s “Grand Illusion” (Oct. 14 and 16) and Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” at the NOLA Drive-In (Oct. 14)

You can find the full list of titles at neworleansfilmsociety.org/festival, along with all information about venues and prices for individual tickets and badges.

Tusk will feature coverage from the festival at www.tusk205.com and in the print edition of Tusk during the run of the festival, so check out reactions to the films here or in the pages of The Tuscaloosa News.